Silver Hawks deploy for Iron Curtain Published Oct. 28, 2010 By Robin DeMark 4th Fighter Wing Public Affairs SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. -- At the end of a busy workday, 50 Airmen are instructed to rally for a brief; the 4th Operations Support Squadron has just been tasked with a deployment order to an unknown location. Is this just another exercise or is Iron Curtain for real? The 4th OSS is no stranger to rapid mobilization in support of global Air Expeditionary Force Operations - "Anytime, Anywhere" is the Silver Hawk motto. Despite a tiring week of exercises and real world hurricane evacuations of 4 FW jets in early September, they know about readiness at all times and this is no exception. "Assemble in the conference room, get your 72-hour bag on the truck, palletize all the bags and gear, the bus departs at 1630, we will process at the personnel deployment facility, here are your aircraft manifest orders, we're on Backy 44 tonight to an undisclosed location," said Lt. Col. Louis Hallenbeck, 4th OSS director of operations. "The squadron commander will have more words for you, we are now activated to support exercise Iron Curtain." After several hours in the air, the tanker lands at a very dark airfield, they deplane and enter the staging base billets for some much-needed rest. Orders for the exercise will start with an intelligence update early morning. The Airmen must establish bare base operations in an undisclosed location somewhere in Northwest Afghanistan. "Some Airmen did not have all their gear ready to go, it caught them by surprise," said Airmen First Class Emma Nielsen, the 4 OSS assistant unit deployment manager. "Since I'm usually the one processing everyone, being on the other side made me realize we all have to be prepared and ready to go at anytime. The exercise tested my endurance and showed how we all worked together after a long day." Throughout the exercise, Airmen from different flights with various expertise conducted briefings. Airmen also participated in team building exercises to test group communication skills while simulating a natural disaster limiting everyone's food supply. "We had to figure out how we could save ourselves and make limited supplies last," said Airman Nielsen. "I learned that people from different backgrounds have different ways of doing things, there no segregation allowed." In addition to learning how to communicate with one another effectively, this provided an opportunity for some to reflect on their leadership abilities and why they joined the Air Force. "This exercise gave me a boost, tested my leadership skills and put me in the mindset of being flexible and always ready," said 1st Lt. Bethany Norman, 4th OSS, officer-in-charge weather operations. "It reaffirmed why I became an officer and being ready to lead even when all of the pieces of the deployment are uncertain and missing." According to Lieutenant Norman, the Airmen expected officers to have all the answers about the mission early on during the flight. Instinctively she reassured the Airmen together they could get the job done because they would not be asked to do anything they did not already know how to do. "The flight briefings gave me the opportunity to learn about what the other flights do," Lieutenant Norman said. Operation Iron Curtain met objectives set by the commanders, to teach Airmen who have never deployed to learn and test their skills in operational security, leadership, mobility and combat readiness. "The main objective was to train our youngest 4 OSS Silver Hawks on what combat readiness means and have them experience the feeling of a short notice deployment so it will not be a surprise to them when the real order to deploy is given," Colonel Hallenbeck said. "It was a learning experience both for our young Airmen and our young leaders."